Monday, July 19, 2010

Book Reading and Citi Fm Literary Appreciation

There is going to be a reading of Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God at the Niagara Plus Hotel, Osu behind Koala Shopping Centre on 28th July 2010 at 7pm.

Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God is an eclectic collection of short stories written by the Ghanaian Writer and Physicist, Mr. Martin Egblewogbe, co-founder of the Writers Project of Ghana, the Eha-Lakasa Poetry TalkParty held at the Nubuke Foundation, and host of the new and exciting literary appreciation program on Citi Fm 97.3 (which I would talk about in the next item).

As a Physicist, Martin as a strange way of penetrating into life and of coming out with essence of issues. Some of the titles in the book are Pharmaceutical Interventions, Small Changes in the Dynamic, Jjork, Three Conversations with Ayuba, Down Wind, and many others. These are just no collection of Short Stories. These are the best collection of short stories you would ever read. Martin once told me, during a discussion on which books to read, that if there are over six billion people on earth and 10% of these people are creative writers, then there would be 600,000,000 (six hundred million) writers. If we further assume that each creative writer writes and publishes just two books, there would be about 1.2 billion books to read. How many of these books would an avid reader read before he dies? It is thus important for one to read good books. Books that would poke you to reason and not books that makes one goes 'and so what?' And good stories is what Martin writes.

I have reviewed Martin's short story collection on this blog and you can click here to read my review and also click here to read my interview with the author.

The interesting part is that I have five copies of Martin's books with me. It sells for GHCedis 10 a copy. If you get yourself a copy and attend the reading by the author, your copy would be autographed. You would also get a free drink in addition to the enjoyment you are guaranteed to have at the reading. So if you need a copy please send me a mail at freduagyeman(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Come let's support our literary writers. If you think writers have no place in society building and in shaping society or directing it onto a better path, try living as a writer in nation's whose rulership has been forcefully and fearfully taken over by military juntas. Writers and members of the arts the first group of individuals to be banned in any country with such military government. Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and human right activist was killed by hanging under the Abacha regime for writing about the devastation Shell Petroleum is causing in his native state of Rivers State, Wole Soyinka has been put to prison by several military governments. Think in earnest of these things and you would know the important role authors play in every country's development. Come let's develop the new to take over the old.

Literary Appreciation on Citi Fm 97.3

A new program has been launched on Citi Fm 97.3 by the Writers Project of Ghana (WPG). It started yesterday, Sunday 18th July 2010 and it would be running on every Sunday at 8:30 to 9:30 pm.

The first show featured writers such as, Kojo Laing, author of Big Bishop Roko and the Altar Gangsters, Novisi Dzitre, a member of the Eha-Lakasa TalkParty and a Poet, and Crystal Tettey, a Poet, Performer, and an Author . So tune in to Citi Fm 97.3 this and every Sunday at the specified time and listen to authors discuss literature in Ghana and the world over.